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Author
Topic: So the life long romance begins today ... (Read 1278 times)

I am going to take my first pill of Complera tonight, July 11, 2014. Hopefully this will be a happy, fruitful companionship and Complera will show m all the love and none of the negative aspects of a serious relationship.

Before I start, I have a few questions I'm hoping folks can help me with:

Fatty Foods - I know you're supposed to take 400 calories with something fatty. I have been eating mostly vegetables for dinner. Meat and heavy stuff is mostly lunch time. I know that some people eat toast with peanut butter, is there anything else that I can eat to satisfy the fat requirement while eating vegetables?

Insomnia - I have never had full fledged insomnia but have always struggled with sleep. Some days I sleep well but on many occasions its difficult to fall or stay asleep. Is taking complera at night a good idea for people like me? I don't take any sleeping aid.

Keychain for Pills - recently ordered one from amazon. Is this a good idea? Can the pills go bad if you keep it in a keychain every day? My plan is to take it out of the keychain every day, take the pill and refill the keychain fob.

Long term side effects - There are lots of articles on short term and temporary side effects but not much by way of long term. I know that the medicine has not been around that long but what is the general sense. Should I look forward to other health issues caused by complera?

Resistance - how long can I expect to stay on this medicine? I have read that resistance eventually develops. If you're adherent then it will take a long time to develop resistance but in the end it always does. Is it true? And if so, what happens then?

Timing - what is the typical window that complera can tolerate? My aim is to have dinner and take complera between 8 and 10 pm. Is this too wide of a window? Do I need to take complera right after dinner or can there be a gap of say 20 - 30 minutes?

You can have yogurt or some cheese with dinner . Im on Intelence and it requires food so I was a little over cautious at first ... Its a lot easier to get 400 calories in you than you think so you should not stress over this too much .

As for timing ... if you have dinner at 5 everyday you can safely go 2 hours either side and have dinner with meds at 3 or 7 ... add it up and that's a 4 hour difference you can use for wiggle room .

If you are adherent to your combo and its working to keep you undetectable you could conceivably take it the rest of you life and not have any resistance issues so do not worry about that at all .

The long term side effects are not known for many of the meds we take but the risk is far outweighed by the known risk of untreated HIV . If you suffer side effects there are other viable combos to go too .

You are going to be OK so try not to dwell on too many what if's if you can do it . Best .

About the timing, I think you were asking if you have to take Complera while eating or if you can wait sometime after eating before taking it. If that's what you're asking, here's what my doctor told me when I asked him (I'm also on Complera) : you shouldn't wait more than 20-30 minutes after finishing eating, because you need to take Complera while still digesting.

I say it's much easier to take it during the meal, or right after it, than a long time after it. That way, you will less likely forget about it!

For the calories, I've been told by the nurse specialist that 350 calories is perfect. As long as you have a solid meal, not just a shake. I take it in the morning because it's easier that way : always at home unless I go for brunch with friends! Slices of bread are usually around 100-120 calories each, so if you take two, you're already at more than 200 calories. Add some spread, or cheese, or yogourt, or bananas, or avocados, or whatever you want on the side and you'll be more than fine. If you take other kind of bread, like bagels or cheese bread, etc., it's even better. Then there are omelettes, eggs, etc.

For lunch or dinner, you more than likely already get more than 350/400 calories.

Let us know how it goes. You might be surprised at how uneventful it goes after you take the first pill.

(Been a bit over a year for me, and never had any problems with it. Became undetectable after a couple of months. I also had to delays the hours sometimes because of life events, plane rides, etc. without any problem. Think of the time more as the meal : pick a meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner...) over a specific bracket of hours. It will be perfect that way. )

Jeff, thanks again for your advice. I guess coming from an engineer background makes me analyze, sometimes over analyze, everything.

I took my very first pill at around 8:30 pm tonight. The thought did come to mind that this will be my routine for the rest of my life but it really did not scare me or saddened me like I thought it might. Really, its the long term effects that I am more worried about. Mainly the increased risk of cancers and fat redistribution.

It has now been over 90 minutes and I feel fine thus far. Keeping my fingers crossed

hi le_liseur: thanks for your detailed response. i liked your idea of taking the pill with my meal instead of afterwards. I basically had the pill next to me when I started eating and took it right at the end.

Frankly, I am not saddened by the fact that I will have to take a pill every day. Its not a big deal really. But I do get the feeling that I locked away my health in a box and gave the keys to big pharma.

For someone in his mid forties, I had done quite well thus far. Non-smoker, light drinker, regular exercise, good cholesterol numbers, etc etc. I thought I would live without medication for a long time. So its a bit of an adjustment to accept that now I will take a pill every day, which in of itself is not a big deal. But eventually I will see side effects at some point in my life. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

But such is life and one has to deal with it. I plan on living a healthy lifestyle and can only hope to keep the side effects at bay as long as I can. I will consider myself lucky if I can make it to 70 without getting seriously ill. Hopefully its not an unrealistic goal.

Jeff, I really appreciate your posts and positive (no pun intended) advice. Hope you know that Your first reply to my original post was a huge help and made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. If you ever visit Dallas please let me know ... you know you have a place to stay here.

Jeff, I really appreciate your posts and positive (no pun intended) advice. Hope you know that Your first reply to my original post was a huge help and made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. If you ever visit Dallas please let me know ... you know you have a place to stay here.

Aww thank you . I have met so many wonderful people on this forum and Im glad to make your acquaintance as well ... it sounds so very southern when you say it that way .

check out the package insert that came with your med (or google it up by the med name and "package insert"). you'll see that whatever HIV medication you are taking (just keep saying to yourself, these are 2014 HIV meds not the junk they were first handing out nearly 25 yrs ago) that the side effects which affected people the most (around 7% of patients at the most, usually) are short term effects. Those long term effects usually happen to >2% of patients.

since 93+% of patients have little to no side effects, you really ought to think some happier thoughts about your meds. As they say in the Hunger Games, the odds are in your favor

@leatherman: thanks for the re-assurance. and you know what, you were spot on!

Today is day 7 of me taking complera and guess what, I did not feel any side effects for the first three or four hours on the first night ... but then, bang! after four hours ... still no side effects!

Just when I thought things were looking good, comes day 6, and lo and behold ... still no side effects!

So far I am super pleased with Complera. I did feel a bit tired the first couple of nights (really for about 3 hours after taking the meds) but that was probably more due to the insufferable Dallas heat. Other than that, I have had not side effects. No gas, headaches, fatigue, etc.

One thing I do is that I take some greek yogurt with blueberries right after taking the pill. I felt slightly nauseous the first night but ever since I started eating yogurt post-complera, have not had that feeling again.

sometimes there might be some limited side effects at first like being nauseous; but that's often just the meds working. While the virus load drops and your immune system begins recovering, that's a lot going on for some people. No wonder they feel like puking. LOL